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BTJunkie Shuts Down

Claims to be a voluntary move.

In the wake of the recent crackdown against file-sharing websites, BTJunkie.com has been voluntarily shut down. This was the fifth largest BitTorrent site on the web, with about 4,000,000 active torrents.

Although no one had filed a lawsuit against BTJunkie, both the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) hold it responsible for mass copyright infringement. It appears that the team behind this site no longer wants to withstand the excessive pressure coming from anti-piracy organizations. The website's goodbye message reads: "This is the end of the line my friends. The decision does not come easy, but we've decided to voluntarily shut down. We've been fighting for years for your right to communicate, but it's time to move on. It's been an experience of a lifetime, we wish you all the best!"

TorrentFreak managed to talk to BTjunkie's founder, and it turns out that the arrests of MegaUpload.com and ThePirateBay.com's crews drove him to this decision. However, he hopes that it's not the end of the road for torrent sites. With this step, the fate of other torrent sites such as isoHunt.com and KickAssTorrents.com has also come under a cloud.

Reader Comments (1)

The insane amount of political funding and lobbying by the RIAA and MPAA at work here. PIPA, SOPA, ACTA, and their ilk are about to make the internet their corporate bitch. Watch as the last bastion of freedom crumbles.